Idioms & Phrases

Common idioms with meanings and example sentences.

Idiom	Meaning	Example
A piece of cake	Something very easy	The exam was a piece of cake.
At the eleventh hour	At the last moment	He submitted the form at the eleventh hour.
Beat around the bush	To avoid speaking directly	Stop beating around the bush and tell me the truth.
Bite the bullet	To face a difficult situation bravely	I had to bite the bullet and apologise.
Break the ice	To start a conversation in an awkward situation	He told a joke to break the ice.
Burn the midnight oil	To work or study late into the night	She burned the midnight oil before the CSS exam.
Bury the hatchet	To make peace	The two brothers finally buried the hatchet.
Call it a day	To stop working for the day	It's late; let's call it a day.
Cost an arm and a leg	To be very expensive	That car cost an arm and a leg.
Hit the nail on the head	To describe something exactly right	You hit the nail on the head with that analysis.
In hot water	In trouble	He is in hot water for missing the deadline.
Kill two birds with one stone	To achieve two aims with one action	Cycling to work kills two birds with one stone: exercise and saving fuel.
Let the cat out of the bag	To reveal a secret	She let the cat out of the bag about the surprise party.
Once in a blue moon	Very rarely	He visits his village once in a blue moon.
Spill the beans	To reveal secret information	Who spilled the beans about the plan?
Under the weather	Feeling slightly ill	I'm feeling a bit under the weather today.
A blessing in disguise	Something good that first seemed bad	Missing the bus was a blessing in disguise.
A white elephant	A costly possession that is useless	The unused stadium became a white elephant.
Add fuel to the fire	To make a bad situation worse	His comments only added fuel to the fire.
Red-letter day	A memorable or important day	Independence Day is a red-letter day for Pakistan.

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